The quantity of biomedical knowledge being generated presents problems for the efficient transmission of that information to undergraduate and post-graduate students. Part of this problem results from the failure to recognize that a given subject area is likely to be learned throughout an educational continuum. This continuum implies that what is appropriately learned will depend both on the student's stage of training and on his eventual professional goal. This proposal aims at developing a new way to organize a body of knowledge so that differing individuals can extract differing portions according to their needs and stages of training. The field chosen for study is immunology, one that is rapidly expanding, multidisciplinary and multipurpose. The field will be analysed from the points of view of the beginning medical student undergoing basic training and the advanced student/housestaffer who is beginning specialty training. For both of these levels the bodies of information will be subdivided into that which is essential for understanding at that particular level, that which enables the student to relate immunology to the remainder of his training, and that which serves to enrich and to facilitate learning. The organization of the field in this manner will be undertaken in collaboration with the Office of Medical Education and in consultation with colleagues from this and other schools. The end-result of this research should be the creation of a detailed description of an important biomedical field in terms of the differing needs of individuals with differing aims, and at differing stages of training. This document would serve as the basis for subsequent modification and general validation from a number of user groups. This research should be widely applicable to other fields of knowledge in medical and health-related training. It should prove useful in providing a framework for self-instuctional programs both in undergaduate and in continuing medical education.